Wandering around Moscow

by Andrea · August 12, 2012

Hello from Moscow! We started the adventure at the Sculpture Garden which will not be here if you ever come to Russia. They are in the midst of destroying the sculptures left from different parks and monuments from Communist Russia. This is their last few weeks on display in this “graveyard” of sculptures no longer wanted.

This is the last sculpture of Stalin in Russia.

And the founder of KGB which used to sit outside in the flower garden of the KGB headquarters.

(former KGB headquarters)

Gorky Park (from that song Wind of Change by the Scorpions)

Cool Peter the Great Statue

Red Square and St. Basil’s with some bleachers in the way

In Moscow, between St. Basil’s and the Kremlin clock tower is Lenin’s mausoleum where his body lies. And yes, you can go see it. He died in 1924. His body was a funky orange probably due to wax upon wax upon wax upon spray paint. It was sooooooo weird. They are talking about burying him for real but 5 days a week for 4 hours you can line up to see him. The mausoleum was very well done itself but seeing a body that has been dead for 88 years is a new and strange experience. Probably one I will never have the opportunity to repeat, nor one I necessarily want to repeat.

The cool Moscow opera house

History Museum at one end of Red Square

This awesome cathedral is the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. It is a Russian Orthodox church that doesn’t let you take pictures on the inside but trust me, it is great! Way cooler than the inside of St. Basil’s.

Up close and personal. Unfortunately it was pouring rain in these pictures so the gold done doesn’t look as shiny as it does when it is sunny.

Back to St. Basil’s:

The inside of is not as grand as the outside. It is cut up into tiny rooms so all artwork and icons are smaller and some rooms are pretty plain. Although there was 1 or 2 good rooms, it wasn’t as good as The Church of Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg or the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.